For the first time since 2019, the Prince Albert Raiders will take on the Edmonton Oil Kings in a playoff series.
Prince Albert (39-23-5-1) finished atop the East Division standings and will take on the Edmonton Oil Kings (37-27-2-2) in the first round of the 2025 WHL Playoffs. Edmonton finished fourth in the Central Division and seventh overall in the Eastern Conference.
“It’s an exciting time. The air is warm outside, snow is starting to melt, and this is when you want to play hockey.” Raider interim head coach Ryan McDonald explained. “For us, we know Edmonton is a straight line team. They play hard. They’re hard on the forecheck. They make it hard on you in all three zones. So again, for us, it’s important to make sure that we’re playing with speed, and our first and second touches are good.”
The Raiders clinched home ice advantage in the first round after winning the East Division title on the last night of the regular season, knocking off the Saskatoon Blades 4-3 in a back-and-forth affair.
While the playoffs may start officially on Friday night at the Art Hauser Centre, Prince Albert is coming off of two must-win games to close out the regular season that helped them raise the East Division banner.
McDonald says playing in that atmosphere was a good litmus test for the Raiders.
“The last two games of the season, especially with all the chips on the line and against our biggest rival, I thought it was just a great weekend for both teams. Preparing each team for a playoff push and meaningful games going down the stretch and into playoffs. For us, it was a great game of details. I thought our guys did a great job of making sure we’re above pucks. We had good sticks and made sure we’re depositing pucks at the behind so we could get to our forecheck and get to our game.”
Tomas Mrsic led Prince Albert in scoring this season recording 90 points in 65 games played. Mrsic says the last weekend of the regular season was a great introduction to playoff hockey for the Raiders.
“Those last two games were definitely a taste of playoff hockey for us as well as Saskatoon. Those games were just tight checking. It felt like the playoffs for sure so I think that was a great start to go heading into playoffs.”
Mrsic was acquired by the Raiders in a blockbuster trade at the start of training camp in a deal that sent Ryder Ritchie to the Medicine Hat Tigers.
Last year with the Tigers, Mrsic had one assist in five playoff games as Medicine Hat lost in the first round to the Red Deer Rebels despite having home ice advantage.
“I think it shows in the playoffs, skill’s not going to win.” Mrsic says. “Last year, we were a pretty skilled team, a young team. Red Deer came in (as a) physical team, just finished every check, got pucks deep, played more playoff style than we did and obviously, they came out with the win.”
During the season series between the two teams, Prince Albert won three of five meetings, including two of three at Rogers Place in Edmonton.
“Definitely for us, the most important game is the first game. That’s our focus and again, we’ve had a great week of preparation and we’re going to continue. It’s that first shift, that second shift, and that’s our mentality just to keep trying to build that 60 minutes.”
In any playoff series, special teams play a major importance and that will be the case for this series. Prince Albert finished with the third ranked power play in the league converting at a 28.2% proficiency. The Oil Kings were ranked second in the league in penalty kill at 81.8% during the regular season.
McDonald says the key for the Raiders to stay on top of that battle is to try not to reinvent the wheel while they have power play opportunities.
“Once you get down to the nitty-gritty, especially against a team that has a strong penalty kill, it’s about simplifying and making sure that we attack the net when we get our opportunities and we recover pucks hard.”
“You go back to the video and you dissect, you look for trends and different things that go on. For us again, you’re going to hear me say this is continuing to build our game. I thought we did a great job coming down the stretch focusing on us and how we want to play. Ultimately we know there’s a few things that Edmonton does that we’re going to counter and we’re going to be prepared for. It’s just making sure that we build our game from the start.”
The Raiders have now made the playoff for the second straight season, but have limited experience outside of the first round. Outside of the returnees from last year’s team which lost to Saskatoon in five games in the first round, the Raiders only have four players with experience in the second round and beyond.
Evan Smith and Matteo Fabrizi went to the second round last season with the Red Deer Rebels while Rilen Kovacevic and Dimitri Fortin won a WHL championship with Moose Jaw and attended the Memorial Cup in Saginaw, Michigan.
Of all the players listed on the Raider postseason roster including affiliate players, 13 have not appeared in a WHL playoff game.
Raider goaltender Max Hildebrand has appeared in eight career playoff games and will be one of the veterans that Prince Albert will look to lean on in the series.
Hildebrand says he’ll look to be a leader on the ice for the Raiders.
“Probably just lead by example and it’s a lot of their first experiences in the playoffs. It’s going to be probably a little bit eye-opening for their first few shifts on Friday. It’ll be good for them to get that under their belt especially on home ice and hopefully it’s a good experience for them.”
Games 1 and 2 are scheduled for Friday and Saturday night at the Art Hauser Centre before the series shifts back to Rogers Place in Edmonton on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Hildebrand says he is looking forward to playing in front of the Raider faithful at the Art Hauser Centre.
“It’s the most fun time of year for us. (I’m) super excited to have home ice. I think it’s a big advantage for us, probably the biggest home ice advantage in the league, I’d say. I know this place is gonna be rockin’ come Friday.”
Season Series
November 16: Edmonton 1 @ Prince Albert 4
December 17: Prince Albert 5 @ Edmonton 2
January 10: Prince Albert 4 @ Edmonton 5
February 28: Edmonton 5 @ Prince Albert 4
March 15: Prince Albert 4 @ Edmonton 1
Puck drop is scheduled at 7 p.m. for both Game 1 and Game 2.
sports@paherald.sk.ca
